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Election candidates’ property, municipality building, attacked by arsonists

Manama: One month before the country’s fourth quadrennial parliamentary elections since 2002, Bahraini officials have said they are determined to ensure their success.

 
Around 350,000 Bahrainis are scheduled to cast their ballots on November 22 to elect 40 lawmakers for a four-year legislative term. According to Bahrain’s 2002 constitution, men and women may run and vote in parliamentary and municipal elections.

 
A call by a coalition of four opposition societies this month to boycott the elections did not seem to dampen the enthusiasm of 322 applicants to run for parliamentary seats and 171 candidates in the municipal polls, who last week registered their names.

 
However, a series of arson attacks on the private property of some of the candidates and on the municipality building of Jid Hafs, a town east of the capital Manama, have been seen as an assault on the elections and an attempt to derail them.

On Thursday, Shaikh Rashid Bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, the interior minister, condemned “the violent, criminal attacks against several candidates that endangered their safety and infringed upon their constitutional rights.”

 
“Threats and violent acts of intimidation are not part of freedom and democracy, but are instead acts of terrorism that should be condemned by all segments in society, including religious figures, political societies, NGOs and all individuals,” Shaikh Rashid said in a statement.

 
“The Interior Ministry has taken precautions in various areas to maintain public order and all security directorates have been instructed to coordinate with candidates to assist and protect them and their families. Violators of the law who intimidate or threaten candidates will face the harshest penalties within the confines of the law,” he said.

 
The minister added that “the parliamentary and municipal elections represent a milestone in the democratic progress initiated by King Hamad Bin Eisa Al Khalifa.”

 
“The election process will continue and all candidates who participate will emerge as the winners while those who assault them will be arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” he said.

 
State Minister for Information Affairs and Official Spokesperson for the Government Sameera Bin Rajab condemned “the terrorist attacks against some of the candidates for the elections.”

 
‘Intimidate’

 
“The attacks have targeted the municipality building in Jid Hafs, a petrol station and the private properties of some candidates to intimidate them and force them to pull out of the elections,” she said at a press conference.

 
At least three candidates have so far reported their property, including cars, have been damaged in attacks carried out after they registered to run in the elections.

 
According to Major-General Tariq Al Hassan, the Chief of Public Security, the municipality building came under attack on October 16.

 
“The building’s security guard said a number of individuals had climbed the building wall, and attacked him after he tried to stop them,” Al Hassan said. “The individuals then forced their way into the building through the main door, poured gasoline and set fire to the building, where the security guard suffered from smoke suffocation,” he told Bahrain Television on Thursday.

 
A Civil Defence team arrived at the scene and put out the fire and the security guard was transported for treatment, he added.

 
“The investigation led to the arrest of four suspects who confessed to committing the crime. They were referred to the Public Prosecution while the search continues to bring the rest of the accomplices to justice,” he said.

 
Bahrain had parliamentary and municipal elections in 2002, 2006 and 2010. By-elections were held in 2011 to elect 18 lawmakers after Al Wefaq society pulled out its MPs in February to protest against the development of the events that hit the country in February.

 
Al Wefaq boycotted the parliamentary elections in 2002, but reversed its stance in 2006, winning 17 seats. It also took part in the 2010 elections and carried 18 constituencies.